.: Welcome to Quality Family Practice :.

Quality Family Practice is the medical office of Kathleen Saradarian, MD, located in Branchville, New Jersey. Dr. Saradarian has been a board certified Family Doctor in clinical practice since 1990, opening this office in Branchville, NJ, in 2003. Prior to opening this office in Branchville, she practiced in Sussex, NJ, for almost 13 years.

Quality Family Practice is a medical practice that is arranged a little differently than you might be used to, more in the style of the old “Family Doc.” This style of practice is modeled after the Ideal Micro Practice (IMP) model of maintaining lower overhead and fewer staff, doing more of the work herself and spending additional time with the patient. Most appointments are 30 minutes long; annual health maintenance exams are booked for longer. In her previous practice, management was always encouraging Dr. Saradarian to “see more patients” or “work faster” in an effort to keep up with the increasing costs of business. But she decided to try something different; Dr. Saradarian decided to jump off the “hamster wheel” style of medicine and “work smarter, not harder” following the IMP model.

There are a few downsides to this approach, however. As a result of having a low-staff model, sometimes the receptionist is on another call, away from her desk, and sometimes not there at all, and you will get the answering machine. All messages are answered as soon as humanly possible, however, so please do leave a message. Also be aware that the biller is there only during limited hours; if you have a billing issue, you will need to be contact her between 10 and 3. You may also contact her via e-mail. Not always being able to take a call immediately is admittedly inconvenient, but please keep in mind that this low-staff model is also what allows Dr. Saradarian to spend the quality time with you during your visit.

Family doctors are trained to take care of the whole family. That is because family medicine is a specialty not of a single organ but of the whole body and beyond. We train in Obstetrics and prenatal care and delivery of the newborn, pediatrics (children of all ages), women and men of all ages, gynecology, geriatrics, psychiatry, even surgery and orthopedics. We like to use the phrase “from cradle to grave” and we are truly trained to be the “old family doctor.” The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) provides a wealth of information on family doctors, their requirements, different issues involving family medicine, and an assortment of other things.

You might be interested to learn that Family Medicine is a medical specialty that requires a 3-year residency and Board Certification. Family Medicine was the first specialty that required recertification beginning in 1969 (a requirement that basically involves ongoing annual medical education by an certified authority, periodic retesting and ongoing Quality Improvement through chart reviews and process analyses, and a formal day long examination every 7 years maximum). Dr. Saradarian was first certified in 1990 and recertified in 1996 and 2002.

Dr. Saradarian does not practice all elements of Family Medicine. She does not take care of pregnancies (but does take care of illness in women who happen to be pregnant), she does not do major surgery. And unfortunately, as much as she loves taking care of infants, purchasing the vaccines for her size practice has proven to be too expensive (you have to buy 5-10 doses at a time) and she now recommends that you see a pediatrician for that first year or two until most of those vaccines are given. If you don’t have insurance, vaccines are available for free at the Sussex county Child Health Conference (Well Baby Clinic): see the Child Health Clinic Schedule for more information. She does do routine gynecology (birth control, PAP smears, menstrual problems), medical care for children, adults, older adults, including men and women. She also does minor skin surgery, mostly those things considered to be cosmetic like skin tags. She loves her families, and has some 3 and 4 generation families in her practice.

If you have any questions for Dr. Saradarian about her practice, or about Family Practice in general, please contact her.